Just as we’re enjoying the last of 2012’s cinematic offerings, the latest edition of the Black List has hit the web. The annual survey highlights the hottest unproduced screenplays of the year, as based on the votes of hundreds of executives.

The term “unproduced” is used rather vaguely here. Some of these scripts (like Ivan Reitman‘s Draft Day and Wally Pfister‘s Transcendence) already have a director or star attached, while others are still floating around in search of the right studio or producer. The subjects and honorees range greatly as well. Nazi hunters, Hillary Clinton, the NFL, and time-traveling teens are among the subjects of this year’s winners, and the screenwriters run the gamut from industry newcomers to seasoned pros.

Screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber quickly established themselves as new talents to watch with their original dramedy (500) Days of Summer. Since then, though, the pair have shown a distinctly literary bent as they’ve lined up one book adaptation after another: The Spectacular Now, When You Were Mine (called Rosaline in the movie version), and Beginner’s Greek.

Now add to that shelf Where’d You Go Bernadette, based on a serio-comic novel by Maria Semple. Semple’s name may not ring a bell, but you’re probably familiar with her work — she’s a former TV writer who’s worked on Mad About You, Suddenly Susan, and Arrested Development. More details after the jump.

Hailee Steinfeld, Dave Franco, and Deborah Ann Woll have been offered the leads in Rosaline, a retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet that’s told from the perspective of the girl Romeo ditches to be with Juliet. Michael Sucsy is directing from a script by by (500) Days of Summer writers Scott Neustader and Michael H. Weber, which in turn is an adaptation of Rebecca Serle‘s forthcoming debut novel When You Were Mine. The comedy will use modern-day dialogue in a 16th-century Verona setting.

Woll would play the title character, while Franco and Steinfeld could play Romeo and Juliet, respectively. If Steinfeld signs on it’ll be her second time playing the iconic character, as she’s also lined up to play Juliet for Carlo Carlei’s more straightforward adaptation. Much as I like Steinfeld, her casting here strikes me as a bit off since she’s eleven years younger than Woll and Franco — but maybe that’s part of the story? [Showblitz]

After the jump, Anne Hathaway becomes a producer, and Sawyer from Lost explores the world of competitive international breakdancing. Really.

Warner Bros Pictures has acquired the big screen adaptation of James Collins‘ novel Beginner’s Greek. I Love You Man, Observe and Report and Green Lantern producer Donald De Line has hired 500 Days of Summer screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber to pen the adaptation. If I had a list of new screenwriters to watch, Neustadter and Weber would definitely be on the top of the list. If you’ve seen 500 Days of Summer, than you know why these guys are getting so much buzz around Hollywood.Read More »

On Tuesday, we ran an exclusive news scoop about the next project from the director and writers of 500 Days of Summer — Marc Webb and writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber are developing a big screen adaptation of Tim Tharp’s The Spectacular Now.

Tonight Hollywood tradepaper Variety is running the same bit of news with no source credit to /Film. This isnt a big surprise. This isn’t anything new. The ethics of Variety’s sourcing practices have been well documented. It’s just very disappointing.

Update: I’ve since had contact with Fox who claims that Variety was working on the story before I conducted my interview. But I’m under the belief that its not about who is working on a story first — it’s about who reports it first with verified confirmed information. In the real world, credit goes where credit is due. If The New York Times was working on a story and The Washington Post broke the story first, The Times piece would mention that the news broke to the public via the Washington Post. Yes, I know this isn’t watergate or some huge news story, but this is one story in a pattern of hundreds or thousands. Variety rarely, if ever, credits online sources for breaking news.

500 Days of Summer seems to be the big buzz film of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Yesterday I got a chance to sit down with director Marc Webb (full interview will be posted later in the week), who slipped a bit of news regarding his possible follow-up. Marc revealed that his is developing a big screen adaptation of Tim Tharp’s The Spectacular Now, which is being written by 500 Days of Summer scribes Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber:

“Neustadter and Weber are adapting a book called The Spectacular Now for Fox Searchlight,” Webb told /Film. “It’s a really fantastic novel about a 17 year old charm monger who drinks too much. And its about how he’s negotiating the world of growing up. It’s a very realistic portrayl of what it’s like to be a kid. And it has a very frank depiction of sex, alcohol and that sort of thing.”

Webb was clear to mention that it’s currently being written, and there is nothing “locked and loaded” for his next project, despite the Hollywood trade papers announcement that he will be making a film called Age of Rage, which was described as “Children of Men meets Lord of the Flies”.

The last recent rom-com I watched (re: politely forced) was Music and Lyrics, which was so amazingly terrible it even made the domineering rental-picker blush. One of the problems nowadays with this genre is an utter void of chemistry between the leads in favor of “mall hot” eugenics. Feh to that! Without even knowing the plot or director, the words “Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, epicly in love” is not really deserving of an eye-roll. Let them and their tears and their city-chic pets make out in the rain, sounds totally opposite-of-mall-hot to me.

EW‘s Hollywood Insider reports that the two young and talented actors are in talks to star in the “anti-romantic comedy”500 Days of Summer, with Deschanel in chats to play a girl who doesn’t believe in love, while Gordon-Levitt would play the guy who does, indeed, believe and must show her. Ooh la la. Cue Elvin Bishop’s drunktastic “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” from Boogie Nights on your WinAmp. Director Marc Webb, making a crossover from MTV music videos for Good Charlotte (blech), Ashley Simpson (blech) and Weezer (hi high school) to features, will helm the pic for Slashfilm faveFox Searchlight. The script is by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber who, uhhh, wrote The Pink Panther 2.

Deschanel is climbing the Tinseltown ranks in major upcoming flicks like M. Night’s The Happening and Jim Carrey’s Yes Man, and just released a cutesy folk album with M. Ward called She & Him. She was also eye-lash-battingly great on the third season of Weeds. Gordon-Levitt is currently cashing in on Stephen Sommers’s G.I. Joe in the role of Cobra Commander and can next been seen, next week in fact, in the dismally reviewed Iraq War fable Stop-Loss.

Discuss: Mushy mushy. What movie got love right? Will these two peoples have chemistry on-screen? What star-crossed lover movie(s) made you grab the Pepto?